Why I haven't made a donation to DonationCoder.com -- and why I might later?

[mouser]

As you all know, this site has no other funding besides the donations of normal everyday people who use our software and enjoy our website.

We don't have venture capital investors, we don't charge companies for talking about their software, we don't accept commissions on sales, etc.

So naturally it's important to us that we find a reasonable way to keep encouraging donations, while not giving up our ideals.

• A large number of you have donated to the site, and for that we are grateful. Thank You!!
• For those on a very limited budget who don't feel they can afford to donate, no further explanation is required, and we have no interest in trying to convince you that you should (see my little little joke chart of recommended donations by income).
• This post is really directed to those people who feel they could afford to make a donation, and might consider doing so in the future, but don't feel like we are doing what we need to do yet to earn your donation.

So, if you've already donated, you can ignore this thread.  And if you're not donating because you can't afford it, you can also ignore it. 

But if you have some advice for us on how we might be able to earn your donation, please let us know by posting a reply (or if you feel shy, you can send me a personal message on the forum or email me at [email protected] and i will keep your comments confidential).

Of course I'm not at all guaranteeing that we are going to make any changes that people suggest.. In fact we're probably more inclined to make changes to please those people who have already donated, but we do care about what you think and I can promise your suggestions and criticisms will be treated with the utmost respect.

[Nighted]

I don't make payments through electronic means. Many times I've tried to contact developers to offer sending them a money order or something but most don't have a post office box or are just too paranoid to give out their mailing address. They point me to paypal and lose my offer.

It's not hard to get a post office box somewhere that you could receive contributions and gifts to.

Maybe I'm way behind, but for me it's much easier just to drop 5 or 10 bucks in an envelope and mail it away. Sure, it might get lost, but I think the mail system is a lot more reliable than people give it credit for.

[mouser]

This isn't directed at you Nighted, you have already contributed to the site.

But in answer to people who don't want to use paypal or credit card, see this item in our Help Section:
"I Want to Donate But I Don't Want To Use PayPal or a CreditCard!"

[f0dder]

Maybe I'm way behind, but for me it's much easier just to drop 5 or 10 bucks in an envelope and mail it away. Sure, it might get lost, but I think the mail system is a lot more reliable than people give it credit for.

-Nighted

Grmbl.

You shouldn't send money via snail-mail. You wouldn't know the amount of accusations this brings on the poor postal workers in the manual sections. But I'd better stop before I go on a rant against all the people who blame post.dk for missing letters & packages, etc etc etc.

Yeah, I just got home from work, don't take it personal

[Nighted]

I've sent cash through the mail many times.

There is not one time it was not received.

[nosh]

OK, here goes. I have used several forums in the past and have never had the people running/maintaining them imply or ask directly for any form of monetary contribution. I'm sure they're out there but I just haven't seen any (and I've participated in quite a few.)
So instead of me telling you ways in which you can get some of my $$$, how about you tell me why I should pay you anything for simply participating in a forum. The one thing I'm getting from this place is a good discussion with people with a common interest. It's not a paid support site where one pays to get opinions. This place is thriving with ideas but I'd like to think that I too have contributed in my own way towards this give and take. The whole "you're just a visitor if you haven't shelled out some dough" bit puts a damper on things for me. I'm not one who'll shell out cash simply out of peer pressure or embarrassment just coz I'd like to be "chartered honorary member" or whatever. It'll only happen if I feel it's truly justified and in this case I don't. I'll be looking out for other good software discussion forums now, not sure if many match the level or participation experienced by this place but I'm guessing there are a few. Hopefully ones where the admins don't imply I owe the place anything more than active participation.

[mouser]

Thanks for that post nosh..  Actually i don't think anyone expects anyone else to donate if all they do is talk/read the forum.

I mean theoretically you might donate to help pay for hosting costs, since we don't run ads, but the cost is not high enough to really make that something we would ask for.

The donations are really intended not for the forum, but to support the programmers who write the software on our site if you use that software.

See software made by people on this site here:

• https://www.donation.../Software/index.html
• http://codingsnacks.donationcoder.com

So the donations are really to support those programmers.  Additionally, we ask people who like the reviews we do to consider donating to the site and giving out their donations to the people who write reviews and minireviews, to support their work and encourage more.

To see these reviews on our site see:

• https://www.donation...m/Reviews/index.html
• http://minireviews.donationcoder.com

Hope that answers your question -- whether you decide to donate or not I appreciate the opportunity to clarify the confusion about donating just as a forum participant.

-jesse (mouser)

ps. I take your point about labeling people on the forum visitors even after they have been participating for a while.  usually i will change non-donator status of members to something above visitor after a while if its clear the person is hanging around and participating

[mediaguycouk]

I think I'm nearly the sort of person that you need to reply.

I've had your screenshot capture tool for months, I'm wondering how long it has been out because I have a feeling I used it in my old job two years ago.

Pretty much as soon as I got to your site I decided to donate. However I don't think you made me to come to your site, certainly not early enough.

Reading through what could only be described as your white paper I see that the actual point of that nagging screen that pops up on the task bar was to make me come and get a free 6 month licence. I'll be honest and say I didn't see it. At no point did I even think there was a non-paying way of removing the nag screen.

I have avast and that makes you register for free and I think that unless your software actually stops or delays starting then people won't even notice that you have a free key to give away.

As soon as you get people to your site for that key you will have more people donating to it.

I really like the donation credits idea though. It makes me think that I need to put more money into it to reward different people.

So how could you have got me to donate 12 months ago instead of last week?
- Make me come to your site
-- Make me wait to get into the software for 10-20 seconds until I have the free key
-- Let me know that the key registers me for a hundred pieces of software and not just this one
-- Get the software to tell me that there is a new version available and make me download it from this site

Hope that helps you

Graham

[tomos]

re the visitor status thingy:

I think once people join the forum they should be simply called, for example, "forum member". (i.e. no visitor status at all)

I think one of the main reasons to donate (as mouser says) is for the software or in order to have credits to give to others (for tips, recommendations, reviews, etc. & is esp. handy for people like me who need help at times!

I've always felt re the forum that anyone who participates is already contributing in a very positive way - to the site at any rate - I mean if the forums were dead I suspect the whole thing wouldn't work so well..)

From the point of view of encouraging donations, I don't think the visitor status makes anyone donate (but who am i to know ) & I guess my point is I suppose that I think it's an unfair title as such.

[mouser]

I've always felt re the forum that anyone who participates is already contributing in a very positive way - to the site at any rate - I mean if the forums were dead I suspect the whole thing wouldn't work so well..)

I couldn't agree more -- a major reason we want people to sign up is to encourage them to participate on the forum, which makes this a much funner site.

Visitor probably is not the best term.. We have to come up with something that doesn't include the word "Member" though, as it makes things more confusing when it comes to talking about "supporting member benefits", etc.

[Josh]

DonationCoder Visitation Executive!